Biography
Sarah Barrett is an Assistant Professor in Radiation Therapy at Trinity College Dublin, where she has been a faculty member since October 2015. A graduate of Trinity College, she brings almost a decade of clinical experience to her academic role, including work at Clinical Specialist level. She completed her MSc in Treatment Planning in 2014 and recently earned her PhD, which focused on mathematical modelling in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) to support personalised radiotherapy strategies. As Course Director of the BSc Radiation Therapy programme, Sarah is committed to delivering a curriculum that emphasises evidence-based practice, clinical excellence, and person-centred care. Her teaching is informed by her strong clinical background and ongoing research. Her research interests include lung cancer, adaptive radiation therapy, stereotactic ablative radiation therapy (SABR), and the use of radiation therapy in benign disease. Her work focuses on the personalisation of treatment through quantitative modelling, aiming to improve outcomes and optimise care pathways. She is an active member of the European Society for Radiotherapy and Oncology (ESTRO), contributing to the lung cancer focus group and is faculty on the SABR teaching courses that support professional development and innovation in radiation oncology across Europe. Her dual expertise in academic and clinical settings enables her to foster interdisciplinary collaboration and lead impactful initiatives.
Publications and Further Research Outputs
Peer-Reviewed Publications
Keeva Moran, Claire Poole,Sarah Barrett, Evaluating deep learning auto-contouring for lung radiation therapy: A review of accuracy, variability, efficiency and dose, in target volumes and organs at risk, Physics and Imaging in Radiation Oncology, 2025
Sarah Barrett, Mohammad U Zahid, Heiko Enderling, Conor McGarry, Gerard M Walls, Laure Marignol, Predicting tumour volume reduction in non-small cell lung cancer: Independent validation of a single parameter PSI model, ESTRO 2025, Vienna Austria, 2025
Manestar, Vedran, O'Donovan, Anita, Barrett, Sarah, Failure Mode and Effects Analysis Application in External Beam Radiotherapy, Radiološki vjesnik, 48, (1), 2024, p13-25
Sarah Barrett, Mohammad U. Zahid, Heiko Enderling, Laure Marignol., Predicting Individual Tumor Response Dynamics in Locally Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Radiation Therapy: A Mathematical Modelling Study, International Journal of Radiation Oncology Biology and Physics, 121, (4), 2024, p1077 - 1087
Vanja Remberg Gram, Daniel Gram, Gitte Fredberg Persson, Morten Hiul Suppli, Sarah Barrett, Reduction of oesophageal toxicity with VMAT dose-sparing radiotherapy in thoracic metastatic spinal cord compression: A feasibility study, Technical innovations and Patient Support in Radiation Oncology, 23, 2022, p8 - 14
Rachel Barry, Elizabeth Forde, Sarah Barrett, Improving Organ at Risk Sparing in Oropharyngeal Treatment Planning by Increasing target dose: A feasibility study, Medical Dosimetry, 46, (3), 2021, p304 - 309
Emily Clarke, Jesper Grau Eriksen & Sarah Barrett, The effects of PD-1/PD-L1 checkpoint inhibitors on recurrent/metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma: a critical review of the literature and meta-analysis, Acta Oncologica, 60, (11), 2021, p1534 - 1542
Barrett S , Simpkin AJ , Walls G , Leech M , Marigno Ll , Geometric and dosimetric evaluation of a commercially available auto-segmentation tool for gross tumour volume delineation in locally advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: a feasibility study, Journal of Clinical Oncology, 2020
Sarah Barrett, Michelle Leech, Dr Laure Marignol, Time trend analysis of target volume auto-contouring in locally advanced NSCLC over the course of RT, ESTRO 2020, Vienna, Austria, 2020
Barrett S., Leech M., Enderling H., Marignol L, User-adjusted auto-contouring of lung tumour volumes can facilitate accurate multiple measurements of lung GTV over the course of radiotherapy, 16th International Congress of Radiation Research, Manchester, UK, 25-29th August, 2019
Nadine Wong Yuzhen, Sarah Barrett, A Review of Automatic Lung Tumour Segmentation in the era of 4DCT will be published in Reports of Practical Oncology & Radiotherapy, Reports of Practical Oncology & Radiotherapy, 24, (2), 2019, p208 - 220
Barrett S, Thirion P, Harper D, Simpkin A, Leech M, Hickey K, Ryan L, Marignol L, Dosimetric impact of uncorrected systematic yaw rotation in VMAT for peripheral lung SABR, . Reports of Practical Oncology & Radiotherapy, 24, (6), 2019, p520 - 527
Meadhbh Ní Fhoghlú, Sarah Barrett, A review of Radiation Induced Lymphocyte Apoptosis as a predictor of late toxicity following breast radiotherapy, Journal of Medical Imaging and Radiation Sciences, 50, (2), 2019, p337 - 344
E. Sexton, S. Barrett, G. Menezes, A Survey on SBRT for Lung Cancer: Current Practice and the Perceived Role of the Radiation Therapist, ESTRO 37, Barcelona, 20-24 April 2018, 2018
Sarah Barrett, Gerard G. Hanna, Laure Marignol, An overview on personalisation of radiotherapy prescriptions in locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer: Are we there yet?, Radiotherapy and Oncology, 128, (3), 2018, p520 - 533
H.Linney S.Barrett, SBRT is a safe and effective treatment option for early stage prostate cancer, Radiotherapy and Oncology, ESTRO 37, Barcelona, Spain, April 20-24, 2018, 127, (S1), 2018, pp840 - 840
Hannah Linney and Sarah Barrett, Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy for Patients with Early-stage Prostate Cancer, Anticancer Research, International Journal of Cancer Research and Treatment, 38, (3), 2018, p1231 - 1240
Gorry C, McCullagh L, O'Donnell H, Barrett S, Schmitz S, Barry M, Curtin K, Beausang E, Barry R, Coyne I. , Neoadjuvant Treatment for malignant and metastatic melanoma. , Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. , (3), 2018
L. Donnelly, S. Barrett, Europe Holds its Breath - A deep inspiration breath hold technology and left breast cancer survey, ESTRO 37, Barcelona, 20-24 April 2018, 2018
Kevin Dowling, Sarah Barrett, Laura Mullaney, Claire Poole, A nationwide investigation of radiation therapy event reporting-and- learning systems: Can standards be improved?, Radiography. International Journal of Diagnostic Imaging and Radiation Therapy, 23, (4), 2017, p279 - 286
Sarah Barrett, Amy Taylor, Luke Rock, Evaluation of a reproducible breath hold technique for the SABR treatment of lower lobe lung tumours, Journal of Radiotherapy in Practice, 2017
Sarah Barrett, On-Treatment Verification for Lung Stereotactic Ablative Radiation Therapy, Journal of Medical Imaging and Radiation Sciences, 48, (4), 2017, p343 - 345
S.Q.E. Ho, L.M. Mullaney, S.A. Barrett, Treatment outcomes of proton craniospinal irradiation for paediatric medulloblastoma, ESTRO 36, Vienna, 5th-9th May 2017, 2017
Andrea Lipsett, Sarah Barrett, Fatimah Haruna, Karen Mustian and Anita O'Donovan, The impact of exercise during adjuvant radiotherapy for breast cancer on fatigue and quality of life: a systematic review and meta-analysis, The Breast, 32, 2017, p144 - 155
Evangeline S. Q. Ho, Sarah A. Barrett & Laura M. Mullaney, A review of dosimetric and toxicity modeling of proton versus photon craniospinal irradiation for pediatrics medulloblastoma, Acta Oncologica, 56, (8), 2017, p1031 - 1042
Catherine McKenna, Theresa O'Donovan, Lydia O'Sullivan, Sarah Barrett, Ann O'Hara, 'Scope of Practice of a Radiation Therapist (3rd Ed)', Irish Institute Of Radiographers and Radiation Therapists, 2016, -
Sarah Barrett, Amy Taylor, Luke Rock, Lung tumour motion within deep inspiration breath hold delivered stereotactic radiotherapy: an evaluation of its cause and effect, 3rd ESTRO Forum, 2015, 2015
Eveann Kennedy, Sarah Barrett, Gillian Fagan, A comparative look at two immobilization techniques used for SBRT of the lung, specifically the upper lobe, 2nd ESTRO Forum, 2013, 2013
Sarah Barrett, Rob Appleyard, The reliability of quantitative thresholding methods for PET aided delineation of GTVs in Head and Neck tumours, Journal of Radiotherapy in Practice, 12, 2013, p187 - 194
Sarah Barrett, Laure Marignol, Gerard G Hanna, Conor McGarry, Gerard M Walls, Delineation of non-small cell lung cancer gross tumour volume on cone beam CT images: a feasibility study including auto-segmentation, ESTRO 2025, Vienna Austria, 2-6th May 2025
Non-Peer-Reviewed Publications
Sarah Barrett, Lung cancer radiotherapy: Pioneering trends and innovations for future practice, ESTRO 2025, Vienna, Austria, 2-6th May 2025, 2025
Sarah Barrett, Stereotactic Radiotherapy for Benign Disease, Irish Institute Of Radiographers and Radiation Therapists Annual Conference 2018, Galway, Ireland, 10th October 2018, 2018
Sarah Barrett, Implementation of AlignRT: an open mask, non-ionising hardware and software system for positioning and monitoring of Cranial SRS patients., The 15th Annual All Ireland Radiation Therapy Study Day, March 2015, 2015
Sarah Barrett, The Challenges of SBRT Treatment Verification., Stereotactic Radiosurgery and Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy Symposium, Dublin, 2014, 2014
Sarah Barrett, Lung SBRT: Immobilisation and Verification, 17th Annual IIRRT Conference, Dublin, 2013, 2013
Keeva Moran, Ciaran Malone, Viola Kelly, Edel Smith, Niamh Carroll, Maeve Keys, Pierre Thirion , Sarah Barrett, Lorna Keenan, Nazmy Elbeltaggi , Brendan McClean, Ruth Woods, Gerard G Hanna, Samantha Ryan, Multi-disciplinary inter- and intra-observer variability for manual and AI-based contouring of thoracic organs at risk, Radiotherapy and Oncology, ESTRO 2025, Vienna Austria, 2-6 May 2025
Recognition
Memberships
RTT member of European Society for Radiotherapy and Oncology (ESTRO)
Accredited member of CORU
Member of the Irish Institute of Radiographers and Radiation Therapists.